ETHIOPIA AND LIBERIA

houses in the southern states of America,
and the gardens are gay with scarlet hibis-
cus blooms. Monrovia is the seat of the
Liberian government. It is divided into
five long streets which rise one above the
other parallel to the waterfront.

On one side of Monrovia is a large
colony of Krus, living in palm-thatched
huts.' There the Krus, or Krooboys, as
they are called, stay during the short in-
tervals between their voyages.

A rich American rubber company some
few years ago acquired a huge tract of
land in Liberia and has planted mil-
lions of rubber trees. Sucb an under-
taking cannot but have a good effect
on the financial condition of the coun-
try, and Liberia, already modeled polit-
ically on the United States of America,
should derive further benefit from ac-
quaintance with the enterprise of modern
commerce. The above mentioned rubber
company was not involved in the alleged

forced labor conditions which an inter-
national commission was asked to in-
vestigate.

Except for rubber, which is increasing
in importance, the development of the
other products of Liberia's rich and pro-
ductive soil has scarcely begun. There
are vast tropical forests almost untouched
and the same may be said of the mineral
resources of which gold, copper, tin, zinc
and iron are known to exist. The princi-
pal exports are coffee, cacao, palm oil,
palm nuts and piassava fibre. There are
no important manufacturing industries;
however, a fishery has recently been estab-
lished with facilities for canning.

Liberia, the only American colony in
the world, was involved in \VorIcl War II.
Air bases and harbors along its 350-mile
coastline, facing the Brazilian bulge of
South America across the narrowest
stretch of the .Atlantic assured a speedy
flow of supplies during and after the war.

ETHIOPIA AND LIBERIA: PACTS AND FIGURES

LIBERIA

Negro republic m West Africa extending
along the coast of northern Guinea between
Sierra Leone on the northwest and the Ivory
Coast on the southeast. Executive power, vested
in a President and a Cabinet of 8 ministers;
legislative power in a Parliament of two houses.
Total area, about 43,000 square miles; total
population estimated at 1,000,000 to 1,500,000.
Agricultural, mining and industrial development
sHght. Chief exports are palm kernels and oil,
piassava fibre, rubber, coffee, cocoa and ivory;
imports are rice, hardware, gin, tobacco, build-
ing material, clothing and fish. Means of com-
munication are poorly developed. The Americo-
Liberians are all Protestants. Government edu-
cational system supplemented by mission schools.
Capital is Monrovia, population, about 10,000.

ITALIAN EAST AFRICA

In 1936, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Italian Somali-
land were united as Italian East Africa. After
the British conquest in 1941, Ethiopia was again
made an empire; Italian Somaliland and Eritrea
were occupied by Allied forces.

ETHIOPIA (ABYSSINIA)

Country in northeastern Africa. Area, 350,-
ooo square miles; population, about 7,000,000.

Chief industries arc agricultural and pastoral,
Forests contain valuable* trees, Iron, gold,
platinum, coal, copper, sulphur and potash arc
found. Chief exports arc hides and skins, coffee,
wax, ivory, civet and native butter; imports arc
textiles, corrugated sheets and bars, hardware,
cement and kerosene. Railway mileage, 488;
length of telegraph line, i,2J<) miles. The Ethio-
pians are Christians. Elementary schools for
the natives arc maintained by the government as
well as by the missionaries. Population of chief
towns: Addis Ababa, 150,000; Harrar, 25,000;
Dire Dawa, 30,000; (jondar, 22,000.

J TA MAN SO MA LI LA A1 /)

Former Italian province on the east coast of
Africa: area, about 194,00 square miles; popula-
tion, about 1,021,572. Agriculture and livestock-
raising arc important occupations. Chief exports
are sesame oil, gum, hides and butter. 27 wire-
less stations. Mogadiscio has a population of
55,ooo.

ERITREA

Former Italian province on the coast of the
Reel Sea. Total area, 15,754 square miles; popu-
lation, abopt 600,573, inclusive of 4,188 Italians.
Agriculture, pearl fishing and gold mining are
carried on. Population of Asmara, 85,000.

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